With its front wheels dipped in the Atlantic, the little 1914 Model T elicits both jubilation and an argument. The former is because of the successful completion of an incredible journey: a full coast-to-coast, cross-Canada tour, covering more than 8,000 kilometres and breaking two crankshafts along the way. The latter is because the dang thing's stalled – and there's some discussion about who's going to wade out and crank it.
Jim Sauder chuckles at the recollection. "We went back and forth until Dad finally yelled at us. My brother ended up wading out up to his waist in the water, which was pretty cold."
Both Jim and Bill Sauder, now 50-year veterans of the Canadian Coasters car club, are at it again. They were teenagers during the 1967 trek, done to celebrate Canada's centennial, and when I catch up to Jim, he's headed west toward Victoria in his 1931 Ford Model A. His brother will be joining him later in a 1955 Chevy.
The Sauder family Model T makes a U-turn after dipping its front wheels in the Atlantic in 1967.
Sauder family photo
Of the 40-horsepower Model A, Jim Sauder says, "It doesn't really like hills. But we'll get there." As his father's Model T was, in 1967, just one of six cars to make the full trip, and easily the oldest one, you have to think the family luck will hold.
Further, the Sauders won't be alone in their long trek. This year's running of the Coaster tradition should have about 100 cars, ranging from hot-rodded Ford sedans, restored English panel vans, an old wagon formerly in service with the Victoria Police Department, two vintage buses and a 1969 Pontiac Superior ambulance.
The latter is the pride and joy of Fraser Field, the tour's organizer this year. It's a herculean task: With more than 200 nomadic gearheads to find accommodation for, camping sites have to be carefully plotted. Making things trickier, some coasters intend to go partway, meeting up and dropping off as the caravan heads eastward to Halifax.
"We've got some 7,000 camping nights booked," Field says, poring over his spreadsheets, "Sometimes, we're staying in fairgrounds or near community centres. We try to stick to the small towns."
Having spent some 30 years as a paramedic, Field is both intimately familiar with the workings of his Pontiac rig and is an experienced driver. The Coaster tradition is supposed to happen every decade or so and he also organized the 2010 running of the event. The immense interest in this special anniversary event makes getting things right a challenge.
Expo 67, held in Montreal, is often championed as an event where Canadians felt a unique moment of national connection. Such a vast country, with all manner of cultures and backgrounds spread out across it, can often feel fragmented into individual communities.
But even so, you can get into your car at mile zero, just west of the Royal BC Museum in Victoria, and drive all the way through 10 provinces and seven time zones, and still be in a big, friendly country where the bills look like monopoly money.
The original 1967 tour embraced this spirit of unity and decided to showcase the automobile's worth in both getting Canadians on the move and giving them a sense of togetherness. Air travel takes you past places; driving takes you through them. Field's focus on making sure the Coasters are showing up in small-town Canada is to be particularly praised, as the smaller the town is, the more an automobile is a ticket to freedom.
Some 125 vehicles participated in the inaugural '67 tour, and as noted, only six made the full coast-to-coast trip. However, it wasn't a slog of attrition, but rather an adventure that ended for most in Montreal, where the country was throwing her birthday party. The tour also marked the founding of the National Association of Automobile Clubs of Canada, linking vintage-car nuts from all across the country. At present, more than 100 individual clubs are part of the association, stretching from the BC Mini Club to the Manitoba Pontiac Association to the Atlantic Canada Chapter Studebaker Drivers Club.
As the Coasters leapfrog from town to town across Canada, they'll often become part of the local 150th Canada Day celebrations. July 1 sees them in Merritt, B.C., joining the local car club there for an informal show and shine. By July 20, they'll be crossing into Ontario, met by the classic-car owners from Kenora. By mid-August, the tour hits the Maritime provinces, and the drivers will dip their wheels in the Atlantic on Aug. 31.
It won't be just the veterans enjoying the leisurely route across Canada either. Fraser and his wife, Dorothy, will be bringing along their grandson Lucas, who is currently 12 – he'll celebrate his 13th birthday mid-trip. The Cross family, making the trek in a Fargo truck, will also have their grandson Payton along. The boys are reportedly good friends, despite seeing each other only during the annual Coaster reunion events.
What a way to spend a summer as an adolescent, out on the roads and highways, stopping off at museums and beauty spots, getting a better sense of your country than most adults ever will. It's the kind of formative experience that'll last a lifetime.
And, perhaps, when 2067 rolls around, there might just be another generation eyeing the maps and planning out a route for a coast-to-coast celebration. Maybe they'll bring their kids along, too. You know, just in case somebody has to wade out into the Atlantic to crank the car over.
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